* Umineko - Revolt

* Ciconia - Warudakumi


Chapter XLI: Primal Premium


* Umineko – Revolt

Inside Scheherazade's Reality Marble, the chaos was still going on strong.

"We're leaving ground! I-I can't feel the ground at all!" Leanne panicked.

"I know!" Hatsuyo said angrily.

Hatsuyo had grabbed the giant bird before it took flight, and Leanne had grabbed Hatsuyo's leg by reflexe. Now, the two of them were being dragged into the sky by the Roc, and they were far from being the only ones. From up there, Leanne had a perfect view of the valley below her feet – it was a rocky and barren valley with nothing unusual to it, except for the car-sized diamonds laying around, and the colossal birds swooping down to size said diamonds. Sometimes though, they would grab a Servant instead – or, such as in this case, someone would grab them.

In truth, Hatsuyo had done so in the heat of the moment, since otherwise she really wouldn't be able to reach them. Regardless of the reason, she must have underestimated the Roc's strength, because it was the one taking her where it wanted, while the samurai was just dangling there.

Or maybe it was because of the grown adult clinging onto her.

"You're heavy! How am I supposed to kill it now?!"

"I-I'm fighting for my life too!"

Leanne wasn't exaggerating: it was ironically safer here than on the ground, at least for her. Even though the giant birds were bothering to grab the diamonds, they didn't seem to be happy with them, as they would drop them shortly after. Or maybe they were really trying to kill them. It was entirely possible, as a couple rowdy birds were even attacking them directly. At any rate, it was like a shower of meteor, and Servants. There was no way Leanne could survive without protection.

But at the same time, she was truly being a weight to Hatsuyo, both litterally and figuratively. The swordwoman was only grabbing the Roc's foot with a single hand, since the other was holding her katana. So instead of dicing it into chicken legs as she had planned to, she was instead trying not to slip off. On top of that, the Roc's movements made it seem as though it was trying to shake them off. Leanne should probably feel bad for being a dead weight, but she was much more afraid of the distance between her feet and the ground, and thus she clung on even harder.

"Khkhkh...!" Hatsuyo was gritting her teeth and holding on as tight as she could, but she might give away any moment. So instead, a light bulb popped up above her head. "Oi, Lancer!"

Her Servant was also being carried off by a Roc, and the two birds were approaching each other. The spearman lifted his head upon recognizing her voice.

"Hmmm? What is it, Master?" He looked rather carefree, even though he was hanging only by his spear stabbed into the bird's leg. "Are you having fun?"

"Switch!" As she shouted this, Hatsuyo prepared to launch Leanne.

She stabbed her sword into the Roc's foot, and with both hands free she swung her body. This was all in order to swing her leg in direction of Lancer; the same leg Leanne was holding onto for dear life.

"Huh?"

"H-huh?! W-wait– aahhh, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Leanne didn't even get the time to get ready.

Even though she had been holding on tight, she had not seen that move coming at all. She was forced to let go of Hatsuyo's leg at the same time she was hurled away. Her heart skipped several beats, and she felt a poweful chill thoughout her entire body while the world was spinning around her. She was about to see her life flash in front of her eyes, but before that could happen a strong arm caught her in the nick of time. Even Lancer seemed a bit bewildered, but moreso because of how suddenly it had happened; otherwise, he was unnervingly relaxed.

"Hai hai, gotcha gotcha~!"

"Aaaaaah!" As for Leanne, she was still screaming even after being caught. She did not feel any more in safety now than before.

"Make sure you don't fall, aye~?"

"Uuwaaaaa!" And now even less so.

Meanwhile, Hatsuyo had actually gotten down to business: she had used her sword to pull herself up, and had started hacking away at the giant Roc. But that wasn't something Leanne could witness anymore, for the samurai and her bird disappeared from view. Her new bird made a dangerous maneuver in order to dodge a colossal block of diamond. The spearman was having an easier time holding on than his Master, but he was nonetheless puzzled about what he should do.

"Mmmmm, I'd love to drop you off, but my feathered buddy doesn't look like he'll go any lower. So, no hard feelings, okay?"

"Huh? What do you... no! Nononono!"

"Oi, the Archer over there!" Lancer called out to someone else, the Archer of White who was undergoing a similar experience not far from there. "Catch!"

"I'm not a baaaaaaaalllll...!"

But her protests fell on deaf ears: the next moment Leanne was once again mercilessly flung through the air, toward Archer of White's Roc. Lancer's aim might be better than Hatsuyo's, but that was not the problem. Leanne would direly need some therapy after all of this.

"Tch." The Archer of White was not dangling awkwardly like the other two – on the contrary, because the Rocs were so huge, she could grab the leg while her feet rested on its huge claws. "What are you people playing at, at a time like this?"

Therefore, her position was a lot more stable, and she had no problem catching the airborne Leanne.

"I-it's not a game..." The poor woman stuttered under her breath. "I'm n-not a ball..."

"Then keep quiet like one at least." Archer said threateningly. "While I understand you had little choice in the matter, I don't take kindly to people being where they shouldn't."

"..."

Leanne closed her mouth tight.

That person didn't look like someone she wanted to anger. It might be a miracle that this total stranger, who ought to be her enemy, even bothered to catch her. So she did as she was told and, sorrowfully, she endured her predicament. At the very least, it didn't seem like Archer was going to toss her: she was too busy observing the battle as a whole; if it could even be called that. Leanne also took that opportunity to take a glance, and it was just as chaotic as before. The Creature too was still here, but it was at the bottom of the valley, being repeatedly crushed under the rain of diamond. It was keeping quiet at least.

"It seems to have settled down at last. Maybe this Reality Marble was a boon in disguise after all." The Servant spoke to herself. "Or not. As expected, such a mess is intolerable."

Although she had both arms busy, she needed neither in order to control her chain. The latter flew out of her sleeve and around the Roc. In no time, it had wrapped itself around the mighty bird's neck, making the Roc cry in alert. But it was too late to get out once caught. Thanks to this improvised leash, Archer managed to pull herself and Leanne onto the Roc's large back.

"My chain can do more than inspire terror." If a feeble mind was subjected to fear, they were more susceptible to yield. With this collar, she had effectively tamed it. "Gain height, but don't throw us off."

And the Roc obeyed, but not without what sounded like a grumble to Leanne. At any rate, now that they had a better foothold, Archer let go of Leanne. It felt great not to be in someone's arms anymore. It didn't feel quite as great to be on a giant bird though. It was an image that came up a lot in children stories, but as she found out, it was very uncomfortable, and she was basically hugging the Roc's back as to not fall.

"However, what an annoyance." Archer was not paying any more attention to her. Her gaze was fixed onto the golden ship floating far up amongst the clouds. "The core is hiding behind a powerful shield. Even if I get closer, I have no way to reach them."

The owner of this Reality Marble had chosen an excellent defense. With so many Servants inside your Reality Marble, it would be hard to say you were at an advantage. But that floating temple was an unreachable territory. A sanctuary that was even more dangerous the more you approached it.

"Perhaps, with my Noble Phantasm... no, I cannot bet on this." She mused to herself.

Meanwhile, Leanne was listening to Archer's comments through the whistling of the wind.

"Hmm, is there no other way to get out of here...?"

"Did I give you permission to speak?"

"Eep!"

"Tsk." Archer massaged her temple. "Even if we don't attack the owner, they will have to call this Noble Phantasm off eventually. But there's no way to know how much time that represents. Depending on their mana reserves, it could be minutes just as it could be hours."

Not to mention, whatever reason they had to keep them all in there was surely not one she would appreciate. In clear, waiting things out was not an option in her eyes. But Leanne was not quite satisfied with that explanation.

"Is that really it?"

"Again?" Archer glared at her.

"I-I mean...!" She stuttered. "There has to be another way out of here... right? I don't know how it works, but there's got to be a way to disrupt... it? I'm not even sure where we are, but..."

Leanne grew more quiet as she realized she had really no idea what she could say. She didn't understand the words 'Reality Marble', nor did she understand the concept of World or World Egg. She was simply furstrated of doing nothing but run around to save her hide.

"Hmph." Archer looked back at the floating palace. "A Reality Marble is unstable by essence, so it could be dispelled by overwhelming it. If even the caster can't keep it together, then the World will destroy it immediatly. But those are words easily spoken, much more hardly fulfilled. Even if I fired my Noble Phantasm two or three times, I can't say for sure it would work; as if I even had the energy to spare for that!"

"Hmmm... So, essentially... by 'overwhelming it', you mean we'd need a big 'boom'?" Leanne tried to make sense of that explanation.

"...A really big 'boom'..." Archer winced from having to speak in baby words.

Leanne stood up on her hands and pointed at her own face.

"I-I can do that!"

"Do what? Cower and cry?"

"I mean... Berserker can do that..."

The Servant of Madness was still nowhere to be seen, as he had long since gone into spiritual form. He had depleted his magical energy to that point, but rather than drain all of Leanne's energy, he preferred hiding. If she focused, Leanne was convinced she could almost feel his presence – he was still watching over her. In fact, he was probably furious that he couldn't do anything to help her; so this time, Leanne was the one who would help him.

"Destruction is his specialty after all!" Leanne stood up hesitantly, trying to keep her balance on the bird's back. "As long as I give him enough energy, then he can make the largest 'boom'!"

"And how do you expect to give him that much energy? Even with all the prana in your body, you would barely be able to give him a physical form." Archer raised an eyebrow; but then, she narrowed her eyes. "Don't tell me..."

"I-I don't have that much energy, but I still have my trump card!" Saying so, she proudly raised her hand in front of her.

REVOC had taught her what she could do with her Command Seals and how to use them. He had stressed that they were limited in use, but they were a very powerful card to use. Archer seemed shocked when she showed the red tattoos on the back of her hand. It was understandable: for Leanne more than anyone else, a Command Seal was precious. However, that was exactly for this kind of moment they were made for – when she was needed the most.

"Berserker, are you ready!"

███▄▌▐██▄▄▀▀█▐–!–!

An affirmative howl resounded in her heart.

Fortunately, there was no one on the ground: everyone was busy either fighting the Rocs, or being caught by them. This was the best time to act – otherwise, her big boom would reduce her friends to mincemeat. Knowing this, Leanne raised her hand high up and did exactly as she had been taught.

"By this Command Seal, Berserker... get us out of this place!"

"███████▄▌▐██▄!–!–!–!"

Her hand shone a bright red. Then, the light escaped her hand and outlined the shape of a fiery giant. Samson was oozing with power, more than Leanne had ever seen before. The wings of light emerged and spread proudly. It was almost too much for the Roc to bear, if Archer wasn't at the helm.

"Go...!"

"██▄▄"

* Stop music

And Berserker lept.

All the other Rocs flying in the sky seemed to have a hunch and flew even higher, ironically taking everyone to safety. Meanwhile, as he plumeted like a comet, Samson's wings turned crimson just like the Command Seals, and they wrapped around his arms. He joined his hands together and raised them above his head; the light gathered into his fists, and it seemed to shine brighter as a result.

Now all Leanne could see was an intense red light falling toward the valley of diamonds – the light of Samson's Noble Phantasm.

Malakh Elohim was a Noble Phantasm that would cause more destruction the more energy Samson could expend. There was no real cap to its power – it was a limitless destruction machine, a tool turned entirely toward devastation. And there was more to it: because Malakh Elohim fundamentally worked by amplifying instead of simply converting, it was exponential. The more energy you put into it, the higher the multiplier.

All of that was to explain why, once that falling star reached the ground, the valley completely disappeared in an intense red explosion.

The earth vanished under the light, while everything above it was violently pushed away by mighty gusts of wind. Leanne felt the deflagration reverbate through every inch of her body, and she was too busy covering her ears to hold on to the Roc. Thankfully, Archer was there to catch her; but even the king thought she might get blown away.

The explosion didn't vanish after an instant, nor even after a moment. It was a like a fire that kept on burning – Leanne had asked him to free them from the Reality Marble, so Samson was going beyond and above to smash it to pieces. And it showed: the sky above them and the very air around them started to crumble, litterally. Cracks ran and spread through them like a broken mirror.

One by one, the pieces were peeled off and fell, revealing nothing behind them but pitch black void.

And it was not just the landscape: the Rocs, which were another creation of this Noble Phantasm, and with screams of agony some of them simply vanished. In other words, whomever they were carrying would fall down toward the explosion. Leanne realized in a panic that she had thought about that at all, but it was too late – her own bird was falling apart.

The only person here who could fly was far away, so Leanne and Archer plumeted together, straight toward the world of light below. Gradually, since everything else was blown away, she could see nothing but that light, even when shutting her eyes tight.

Leanne wondered if she too was falling apart: her sense of feeling was growing fainted, just as her consciousness did.


* Ciconia – Warudakumi

There were no more ocean, no more treasure cave, and no more jewel valley.

The exotic atmosphere had been entirely replaced with the chill of a winter night. The sky was pitch dark once again, save for the lights lined up along the streets; and instead of birds, what dominated the sky were skyscrappers. There was no doubt about it: they had left the Reality Marble and had returned to London.

After so much chaos, the cold silence of those streets was a nice change of pace. In fact, it was almost disconcerting: everyone was looking at each other without a word, as if to confirm they had returned to reality. It was actually impressiver how many of them had survived: pretty much everyone. Even in such chaos, casualties had been avoided, although some were visibly more at ease than others.

"Wait, where is Caster?" Archer of White suddenly noticed Crowley's absense. "Has he died?"

"That guy? I got no idea." Saber of White shrugged. "He's disappeared for a while I think. Whether he's dead or managed to sneak away to somewhere, I can't tell."

"...That's a matter for later, I suppose." Her opinion of the mage would drop if he truly had managed to die already. But she had a feeling that wasn't the case. Like Saber had said, Crowley was the kind of man who might just slip away without anyone realizing. "We have more pressing issues at hand."

There was an awkward mood floating around the gathering of Servants. After all, everything was happening very fast, but they were still unsure whether they should be working together. There were suspicious glances, defiant looks, and some truly puzzled expressions. If they had no more common enemies, maybe it would be easier to say they were opponents.

But the golden temple was still floating above their heads. It showed no intent of approaching or attacking, but it was still there.

And of course, there was also...

"▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄"

The Creature, although it was hard to consider it as such anymore.

Thanks to Scheherazade's Reality Marble, they had managed to confine it and thus prevent it from laying waste to the city. It had also received damage from the Reality Marble as time went one and, of course, it had received the full brunt of Samson's Noble Phantasm. So saying it was in good shape was far from the truth.

Now, all it looked like was... a sheet. An impossibly flat living organism, wide enough to cover a house. There were eyes popping up on that surface, but it wasn't a crazy carnival of appendages like before. It swayed weakly in the wind, and even its abominable screeching was far more feeble than the terrifying blight that used to seem impossible to kill.

"And to think it looked hopeless..."

Somehow, a battle that was previously thought to be desperate had become much more realistic.

But did that mean they could lower their guard? Surely not. What would that monster do once it was cornered? Some of the Servants here were just as exhausted as it was, and some were not even sure what they were supposed to do. So right now, they were staring off with the Creature who seemed every bit as confused as they were.

Archer of White glanced down at the woman lying down on the pavement. Leanne Stormbird had lost consciousness upon leaving the Reality Marble. Perhaps she was feeling the drawback of using a Command Spell, or maybe there was a different reason. After all, the other human here, Hatsuyo Toriyama, was well and awake. The loyal giant was watching over Leanne with bared teeth, well aware that there were few allies here. But no one was really thinking about her at the moment.

Finally, the Creature moved – or rather, it rolled itself up.

The same way one would roll up a scroll, the flat living being rolled on itself and transformed until its body was cylindrical and elongated. Then, thin limbs emerged in order to support it, and it now looked vaguely like a centipede. No, actually, it reminded Archer of something she had seen once in a book on paleonthology: the strange being knowned as hallucigenia. The Creature in front of them wasn't far from that appearance, and instead of beast-like howls it let out a monstrous high-pitched shriek.

Then, it moved at a speed no one here had expected from this body.

But instead of coming toward them to fight, it ran away. It left the disaster area in the span of a thought, as spikes started to grow on its back. Then, as soon as it reached an street that had been spared by its previous rampage, the spikes stretched out and moved like tentacles – each of them burst through a window and rummaged.

"...! It's trying to devour more people!"

But of course, the Servants hadn't remained idle while their enemy ran away.

Odysseus drew his bow and destroyed the tentacles on one side. Someone else used a more radical method: Maui caught the Creature in her hook and she forcefully pulled it up in the sky. They could find things dangling at the end of some tentacles; it had already managed to make more victimes.

And it was not planning to stop now: after devouring the corpses, the Creature's turned all of it appendages toward attacking the fisherman. It was a swarm of sharp spikes approaching her at high speed.

"Whoa!" Maui wasn't in a good position to avoid them, so she was forced to let go of her catch and back away.

The Creature started falling down and was already preparing to land with its grotesque body. But that was before a flaming chariot slammed into it and sent it crashing on the ground thrice faster. In the process, all of its limbs had been reduced to ashes, while a chuck of its body had been torn off by the impact.

It could not run away through the air.

And, after landing heavily on the pavement, it was surrounded by many Heroic Spirits. Even the most exhausted amongst them were still ready for a fight to exterminate it from existance. There was no way to shake off that many opponents, and no way to defeat them. It looked like it was truly the end for the Creature, who was reduced to looking desperately for a way out in all directions with it many eyes.

Archer of White didn't even need to take action; she was looking down at the beast from the top of a house. It was anyone's guess how Ruler would give out his reward. Maybe everyone here would receive it, or perhaps no one would, as that would lead things out of control. She didn't truly like the sound of it, but at the very least she was done with the Creature.

Or so she thought – for before anyone could lay the final blow, the Creature

vanished.

Without a sound, without a warning, it disappeared as though it had never existed.

It had not merely turned invisible – it would have done so earlier, and they would be able to tell. Everyone present had to blink twice before even realizing what had happened. They all looked at each others with dumbfounded expression, and they looked around for it – for they couldn't believe it was simply gone. But no answer would come out of scrutinizing each other's faces.

However, there was someone here who could bring an answer: the culprit.

"My, why do you all look so confused?"

"Caster! What game are you playing!" Archer glared at Aleister Crowley, who had appeared on the same roof as her. "This is your doing, isn't it?!"

"Oh, that." The magus replied as though it was of little importance. "I'm simply borrowing it for a moment, if you don't mind."

"'Borrowing'...!" She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You...! Where did you take it?!"

She was ready to threaten his life if need be, but Aleister gave in easily.

"Oh, you needn't make that kind of face, I'm not stealing it! I know Ruler wouldn't allow that. I simply need a little diversion." He shrugged, but the glint in his eyes made it clear he was making fun of her. "Don't you have an idea?"

She didn't even have to guess – the answer revealed itself, quite audibly so.

In the distance, otherworldly howls echoed through the night. And it was accompanied with tremors and the sound of something crumbling. It was easy enough to guess what was in that direction; if the magus was truthful, then there was only one place where he might need a diversion.

"My, my, it's already rampaging around." The culprit made that comment innocently, without an ounce of guilt. "There aren't too many humans over there, but I hope it doesn't ingest any magical experiment. In its distress, it might just start devouring whatever it can get its hands on."

And with a sadistic chuckle, Aleister teleported away.

A second went by in silence, until it dawned on everyone present here.

"Hey, that's where my Masters are!" Maui flared up, and she was not the only one.

The Servants of Red immediatly headed in that direction in a hurry. Not that the rest of the Heroic Spirits simply stood there – whether because they had someone to save, or because they were itching to finish that Creature off, everyone hurried at once toward the Clock Tower. The floating golden temple did as much. Surprising though it may sound, the only one who refrained was Samson: Archer saw him from the corner of her eye, picking up his unconscious Master and leaving in the opposite direction. She could not blame him, and in fact she could command him for overcoming his madness in order to save Leanne.

The dawn was drawing near.


Thank you for reading.

After almost a year and a half, we're entering the finale of this London mega-arc. Don't ask me why it took this long.

~Legends Storyteller.